2018 Narrative Budget St. Aidan Anglican Church

Painting of St. Aidan by Carly Smith

FINANCES AND FAITHFULNESS, MONEY AND MISSION

IN

WORSHIP HOLY SPACE

COMMUNICATION CARE

SERVICE AND HOSPITALITY GROWTH

EDUCATION ADMINISTRATION & DIOCESE

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I n order to provide our parish and the wider community

with a summary of some of the highlights of 2017 at

St. Aidan and our plan for 2018, we offer a “narrative budget.”

In a budget of this sort, we provide an overview of how the

largest swaths of our budget commitments relate to our life

and ministry together. We hope that this format will help to

show how finances and faithfulness, money and mission, can

go together.

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O ur Mission :

Responding to God’s initiative, we will build a loving

community that fosters communication, acceptance, and

respect for all through worship, education, and

fellowship. We will diligently administer the resources

of our church and fulfill our responsibility to the wider

church community.

O ur Vision:

A caring community, rooted in the Word, living our

faith, and sharing God’s love.

O ur Guiding Principles:

Unity;

Liturgy;

Sacred Space;

Welcome and Involvement;

Rest and Freedom

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Many in our parish will attest to it being the beautiful,

participatory liturgy that connects with their deepest spiritual

hunger. The cornerstone of worship in the Anglican tradition

is Sunday Eucharist. It takes a veritable army of volunteers

and staff to organize and prepare for worship at St. Aidan.

Every week, approximately 30 people contribute to Sunday

services. This includes roles as diverse as the altar guild,

greeters, altar servers, lay communion assistants, choir

members, lectors, offering counters, sound technicians, and

healing prayer team members. As well, we recognize

presiding at worship to be one of the core elements of our

incumbent’s ministry; in this he is supported by our deacon,

the associate clergy and our newly licensed diocesan lay

reader. Behind the scenes, preparing bulletins and orders of

service is the work of our parish administrator. All this effort

is a priority because worship is central to our identity.

Throughout the church year, seasonal and Compline services,

a regular choir, and selected anthems add to our experience

of the “beauty of holiness” at St. Aidan. Finally, there are

numerous special services that mark significant events in our

life of faith. This year we celebrated 4 baptisms, 4

confirmations, 3 weddings, and 15 funerals—all experiences

of worship, prayer, and the proclamation of the gospel.

In the upcoming year, we will be devoting approximately

21% or $49,462 of our overall budget to supporting worship.

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The church of St. Aidan has a physical home: our building.

The way the church building is designed and how it is kept

is itself an expression of our worship. As a place of prayer,

the nave and chapel are formed to inspire our thoughts to

God. Our offices serve as work spaces and rooms for

discussion and collaboration. Maintaining and improving

our built environment requires significant investment of

resources. In the coming year, the responsibilities of

coordinating the maintenance of our building will be

allocated to the Parish Administrator.

This year we anticipate the cost of maintaining and

improving our parish building to be approximately $37,930

or 16% of our budget.

Additionally, due to the parish’s generosity in the Living the

Mission campaign and through specially dedicated gifts, our

hall kitchen was completed in 2017. The next phase of the

renovation project will be to shore up the north foundation

wall and refinish the basement.

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In order to share and invite others into the good things taking

place at St. Aidan, our parish maintains an excellent website. We

also advertise on the local radio station before Christmas and

Easter and maintain outdoor bulletin boards on our church

property.

Communications make up 0.2% or $500 of our annual budget.

Often taking place around the edges of our bustling parish,

there is a dedicated group of people who attend to those in

difficult circumstances, extend friendship to those who are

grieving, and provide advice to those seeking guidance. The

pastoral care team ministers quietly and effectively to 30+

people who are in care homes or in hospital. Our deacon

exemplifies the ministry of service by interpreting the world to

the church and the church to the world. She does this through

countless pastoral care sessions with individuals in our parish

and beyond. The ministry of care also takes place through our

priests who meet one on one to offer counsel or a listening

ear. This year a group from our parish will complete their

training in spiritual direction to serve the parish and diocese in

this crucial ministry.

Ministries of care at St. Aidan receive approximately 11% of

the budget or $24,807.

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Area $* %

Worship 49,462 21%

Holy Spaces 37,930 16%

Communication 500 0%

Care 24,807 11%

Service and Hospitality 10,238 4%

Growth 37994.9 16%

Education 5,900 3%

Diocesan related 49,320 21%

Administration 19,735 8%

Total 235,887* 100%

* Note: this chart provides an estimate of the total budget - where dollar amounts do not match, the budget should be considered accurate.

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After we’ve been fed at the Lord’s table, we are sent out to

“love and serve the Lord.” This takes place in numerous ways.

For example, our Sunday lunches are open to members of the

community looking for a small meal and some fellowship. As a

“Eucharistic people” we share good food and wine (and beer!)

as an extension of our table fellowship established at

communion. This takes place at several events, including the

Christmas Presence Inklings, Easter Vigil and the Agape

Supper on Maundy Thursday. With an array of amazing cooks,

wine experts, and brewers in our parish, we aim to supply some

of our central gatherings with refreshments over which we

build friendship and community. Monthly, a team from St.

Aidan joins the crew at Riverside Mission to serve food and

meet people in their community. Twice a year a group from our

parish delivers meals with Meals on Wheels. We also contribute

annually to the Primate’s World Relief and Development

Organization (PWRDF) and the Anglican Foundation. Every

year, many people contact the parish seeking food vouchers

and other kinds of help. In the past year, our parish has also

contributed monetarily to Riverside Mission, the Food Bank,

and the Salvation Army.

Approximately $10,238 or 4% of this parish’s budget is

dedicated to hosting and giving to the community and much

more has been given directly to PWRDF and other agencies by

our parishioners.

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One of the primary reasons that we gather and serve together

at St. Aidan is to grow in our ability to follow Christ faithfully.

In the coming year, we will host another “Brave Women

Retreat” with Ellen Duffield as the keynote speaker and

director for this encouraging and empowering day.

In six Lenten groups, we grew together through discussions

that ranged from the Gospel of Matthew and the letters of

Paul to Dante and various works of literature. One of the

Lenten Groups continues meeting together.

Once again, we gathered together for Inklings to help nurture

the creative life of the parish. Inklings 2017 began in

September with “Creating Community with Wool and Wood”

when we learned from Diana Barclay and Angela Deans

about spinning and knitting wool and from Chris Hoyes and

Alex Pinter about how they make holding and Celtic crosses.

In October, Inklings met for an uplifting day-long seminar

with Dr. Wesley Hill. In November, Fr. Cal and Tracy

Macfarlane organized our first “St. Aidan Fall Fair” with a lot

of creative fun! The traditional “Christmas Presence” Inklings

evening of story and song occurred again on the 3rd Sunday in

Advent. Attendance at Inklings ranged from 50 to 150 people.

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Our youth ministry continues to mature. Although there have

been some fluctuations with attendance, on average 15 young

people in grades 5 to 12, along with a team of 9 sponsors and

leaders, met regularly at St. Aidan for worship, the study of

Scripture, and to learn to care for one another. Additionally, 6-8

senior high youth and young adult leaders also began to meet

weekly for “pre-school prayer and Bible study” – a ministry that is

supported by the prayers of one of our adult small groups.

Growth makes up 16% or $37,995 of our annual budget.

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St. Aidan is a parish overflowing with parishioners, leaders,

and clergy who are deeply involved in education. As such,

St. Aidan is a hub of Christian education and scholarship in

the diocese and beyond. It is for this reason that we see

releasing teaching ministry as a key part of our service. St.

Aidan leaders have been heavily involved in the Qu’Appelle

School for Mission and Ministry—the diocesan training

school. As well, the parish hosted a seminar day on Spiritual

Friendship: Chastity and Christian Community with Dr. Wesley

Hill (Trinity School for Ministry, Ambridge, PA) and a

preaching/teaching visit with Prof. John Barclay (Durham

University, Durham, UK). On a weekly basis, we love to

see our incumbent priest prioritize serious study of

Scripture—translating Hebrew and Greek, reading widely,

and this year completing his biblical commentary on the

book of Acts to share with the wider church! The

commentary will be published this autumn by Zondervan

in The Story of God Bible Commentary Series. Our incumbent

was supported in the final stage of writing by his fellow

clergy and an array of gifted preachers from the parish.

This sets the pace for the education that takes place at St.

Aidan, including the Sunday morning children and youth

learning opportunities through our nursery (ages 1-2 years),

our Godly Play program (ages 3 years to grade 3), the

Sunday school classes for grades 7-12, and our new

program this year for grades 4-6.

Approximately 100 people are involved in educational

programs offered through St. Aidan and it makes up 2.5%

or $5,900 of our annual budget in 2018.

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With the retirements of our administrative assistant, Sandra

Warnock, and our Verger, John Langford, the Vestry

decided to hire a Parish Administrator to oversee the day-

to-day operations of the parish. This change signals a

change of eras as well as a transition point in the growth of

the ministries of St. Aidan. A variety of other expenses

associated with “running” the parish are included in

administration.

The identity of St. Aidan as an Anglican church is

connected to the Diocese of Qu’Appelle. We contribute to

the diocese through offerings such as education and

women’s retreats, participating in Synod, as well as through

the financial contribution of our Fair Share portion which

increased significantly due to our increased giving in 2016.

These two areas account for a significant increase in

financial need for 2018 and amount to 29% or $69,055 of

the budget.

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It is appropriate that we have our Annual Meeting and

reflect on our budget in the season of Epiphany. The word

“epiphany” means, “revealing” or “shining forth.” In his

online resource The Pilgrim Year, Steve Bell notes

“Epiphany…may be the least observed season of the

Christian calendar year, and yet its power to stagger us with

mystery and animate our faith is hard to overstate.” While

our narrative budget may not “stagger us with mystery,”

nonetheless I think that it could help us to “animate our

faith.”

This narrative budget is intended to be an “epiphany” so

that you can see what we intend and to show some of the

ways how we can “shine forth” the gospel as a congregation.

Our budget, as always, is ambitious – but so are our

aspirations to honour Christ and serve those around us.

I do pray that you will have had epiphanies as you read this

narrative and that they will inspire you to support–

financially and otherwise–the mission of this wonderful

parish.

Fr. Dean+